What Mr. Tian has done is to zoom in on that lonely figure poised on the edge of the abyss, the solitary fisherman in his sampan, the sage lost in contemplation beneath a silvery moon, and brought him into the foreground.he is simply waiting for a fish to tug at his line-the image of a man seated in a shallow-draught boat, his figure reflected in still waters is favourite device of Mr. Tian. Either way, it is the notion of calmness and stillness that the picture conveys. Which brings us back to Lao Tzu and his definition of the Tao, the sacred path through life whose follower “…acts without action, does without doing .”
The seated figure who meditates is no more than a dab of ink on rice paper, but it is sufficient to its purpose. Similarly, the little boat in which he sits is represented by a single flourish of the brush. This is not something that is easily achieved- it is gesture of a master, a gesture that has an almost mystical import.
---Dr Julian Davison
British Art Critic